Eat The Yard

I had originally intended to wait a few more days before transferring the chicks to the coop, but the weather’s been warm — and I just couldn’t take any more attitude.  Those little birds have been wearing me down. Over the past week the chicks have gone wild, turning from adorable little tufts of fuzz [...]

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This morning I found myself picking pill bugs off my bean seedlings. I noticed that several of the new sprouts — Kentucky Wonder, Contender, and Scarlet Emperor — had wilted and looked chewed.  A few had pill bugs on their tender new leaves, but all had dozens of these tiny crustaceans just beneath the surface [...]

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I have perhaps set a brazen schedule for our second spring.  The last warm season’s utter failure is one impetus.  The crushing persistence of the local pests is another.  But ultimately my broad catalog has been inspired by all that I have learned. This warm season we will plant many traditional or heirloom varieties of [...]

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Based on the last week’s blooms, it looks as though at least one of the Anna Apple branches I grafted to my Gala will take.  The buds cracked the protective wax coating and burst through with ease. What an amazing ability: No organ/limb rejection, no immune-suppressing pill regimen — just, “Thanks for the new branch.”  [...]

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As we prepare for the spring planting this month, throughout our yard there are several spots and beds still devoted to cold-season holdovers.  And some — like the broccoli, carrots, and beets — have a few weeks yet to go before the first round of harvesting.  I could intersperse warm-season crops here and there between [...]

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For weeks — even before our shipment of chicks arrived — I have been reading about the perils of being a chicken.  And there are many.  However, our brood will not face most of the horrors about which I have lately learned simply because of its size.  As with any animal, high population density encourages [...]

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